Promise Me ➵ Newt [3]

TWENTY ONE | turning into a crank

(Minho's p.o.v.)

He watched as the light in Rose's eyes faded away, watched as her arms and legs went limp.

Thomas was grasping her hands, his fingers slicked with sweat as he muttered comfort words to her, despite her slipping into unconsciousness.

"Take my blood," he said finally, looking at them all. "Don't just stand there, find a syringe and take my blood! She doesn't have a lot of time!"

Brenda frowned, her eyebrows furrowing in obvious worry. "But... But you're already losing so much blood-"

"Just do it!" Thomas cried out suddenly, glaring at them all. "I'd rather die than see another one of my friends turn into a fucking Crank!"

Brenda flinched at his words but didn't retaliate back - Minho quickly scrambled to his feet and rushed to the medkit stored near the controls. He snatched it up and fumbled around in it, then finally pulled out a syringe, its needle glinting wickedly in the firelight from outside. He knelt by Thomas' side and very carefully inserted in into his arm, trying to steady his shaky fingers. He had seen Rose do something like this plenty of times back when they were in the Glade, so he had a fair idea of how injections worked.

He pulled the plunger and watched as dark, crimson blood trickled slowly into the tube, thick and warm. Thomas winced; Brenda quickly took off her jacket and pressed it to the gaping wound in Thomas' side, trying to apply pressure to it to stem the flow. He gulped, eyes closed, as cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"Uh... guys?" Minho heard Gally say from behind him.

"What?" Brenda said, glancing up.

"I think Rose is waking up."

Thomas' eyes flew open and his head snapped to the side as he watched Rose with a look of horror. Minho threw a glance behind him and nearly fell over - Rose was crawling to her feet, the veins bulging out her skin visibly, black blood flowing through in chunks. Her usually vibrant eyes were now sunken-in, almost completely black, with veins snaking in the corners of her irises. Her chest heaved with heavy breaths as she regarded Gally, who stared back, seemingly not knowing what to do.

Then she lunged.

"No!" Thomas yelled. "She's turning already - Minho get my blood to her!"

Minho pulled the needle from Thomas' arm as carefully as he could while Gally's screams and Rose's shrieks sounded behind him. He heard some scuffling - and as he shot up to his feet and whirled around, he saw Vince and Jorge trying to wrestle Rose away from Gally, who stumbled back. She let loose another series of shrieks and tried to claw at them, spit flying from her mouth.

"Get her to stay still!" Minho shouted.

"Easier said than done, hermano!" Jorge yelled back. 

Minho advanced forward slowly, trying not to draw too much attention to himself as Rose seemed to snap towards any sudden noises and movements. It hurt him to see her this way, to see her act so... mad. But he knew it was the virus in her forcing her to act this way. She couldn't control it, it wasn't her fault.

As Jorge tried to get a grip on her arm, she ripped away from his grasp and leaped to one of the immune kids, who was huddled by the side cowering, and he screamed as she pounced on him and tried to scratch at his eyes.

"Rose, holy shit!" Gally rushed to her and pulled her away, then quickly jumped back as she snapped her teeth at him. She roared, making black goo fly everywhere - which was disgusting, by the way - and crawled on all fours, eyeing each of them warily with her intense eyes. Minho joined Vince, Jorge and Gally as they circled her, all the muscles in their body tense and wired, ready to pin her down. But then Rose gripped the sides of her head and screamed - it was a piercing sound, one that Minho was sure had torn apart her vocal chords.